The director of the Central Hydro-Meteorology Forecasting Centre Bui Minh Tang announced this at a recent meeting to review the winter-spring rice crop and to draw up plans for the summer-autumn crop.

He also said that other obstacles, including the threat of the black dwarf diseases and shortages of hybrid rice varieties, would seriously affect productivity from now until the end of the year. Currently, the Hoa Binh, Tuyen Quang and Son La reservoirs are dry.

The sunny weather will also continue, especially in some northern and central provinces. It is forecast that the average temperature for this year could reach a record high.

However, due to the prolonged drought, storms and tropical low pressure zones will come later than in other years, near the end of the harvest.

Regarding measures to cope with diseases, the director of Thai Binh Province's Department of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Huu Rong said that the province plans to plant 45,000 ha of rice, an increase of 6,000ha compared to the winter spring crop.

The Director of the Department of Cultivation Nguyen Tri Ngoc said that in low-lying areas that could be affected by flooding, or for those with fluctuating productivity levels, farmers should shift to growing other kinds of crops.

In the Red River Delta, farmers should plant rice varieties with long stems that are water resistant.

Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) Cao Duc Phat said that provinces needed to be well-prepared and carry out preventative measures against black - streaked dwarf disease and to be on their guard for floods near the end of the harvest.

MARD is encouraging farmers to grow seedling for the next crop to fulfil the year's goal of producing 38 million tonnes of rice.